Tag Archives: Churches of Screven County GA

Dixon Branch Missionary Baptist Church, Screven County

Leave a reply
A white building labeled 'Dixonbranch' with a porch and surrounding greenery, set against a backdrop of trees and a grassy area with visible grave markers in the distance.

Dixon Branch Missionary Baptist church is a historic Black congregation near Rocky Ford, organized by freedmen on 27 June 1871. The name refers to Dixon Branch, a nearby tributary of the Ogeechee River. There were many plantations in this area, and after emancipation, formerly enslaved people who had once been forced to worship with their enslavers desired their own places of worship. They likely met in a brush arbor for their earliest services but eventually built a formal church (circa 1900), which was a typical white clapboard structure, with a “wedding cake” steeple to the left. That structure was replace by the current building, but I haven’t been able to confirm a date.

A peaceful cemetery scene with several gravestones and flowers, shaded by a large tree, surrounded by green grass and trees in the background.

The small historic cemetery features a variety of memorials, ranging from vernacular to commercial, and many of the early families still have ties to the congregation. The examples presented here are completely random.

A weathered gravestone partially obscured by fallen leaves and surrounding foliage, featuring the engraved name 'F.J. Nelson.'
F. J. Nelson (birth and death dates unknown)

This simple marker memorializes someone who is now lost to history. I am always hopeful that someone will know these forgotten souls.

A weathered gravestone surrounded by tall grass and small plants in a cemetery.
Maud Singleton (21 May 1888-March 1897)

This memorial is of a typical vernacular style, featuring stenciled letters with a floral design. Maud Singleton was the young daughter of M. H. and G. A. Singleton.

A cemetery with several tombstones visible in a grassy area. In the foreground, a tall gravestone for R. Rease, born August 15, 1847, and died June 22, 1917, is prominently displayed next to a smaller stone marker.
R. Rease (15 March 1842-22 August 1907)

This commercial monument contains the sentiment: “A kind wife mourns in thee, a husband lost. The poor, a friend who felt, what friendship cost.”

Close-up of a gravestone with inscriptions indicating the date of birth and death, surrounded by grass and various flowers in the background.
Johnson Bradley (8 February 1868-9 March 1925)

Mr. Bradley, a Prince Hall Mason, was born in South Carolina to Joe and Nancy Bradley. His wife’s name was Lydia. His memorial contains the sentiment “There is rest in heaven”.

A gravestone for Deacon Arthur Oldredge, featuring an engraved image of a robed figure and inscriptions with his name, birth and death dates, and a biblical quote.
Deacon Arthur Oldredge Burke (27 December 1889-22 July 1964)

Deacon Burke was obviously an important member of Dixon Branch Missionary Baptist Church. His memorial may be the nicest in the cemetery. It features a Sacred Heart of Jesus relief, which is most often associated with the Catholic faith, though it has been adopted by Christians of all affiliations.

Gravestones of Rev. James and Ruby Cail in a cemetery, decorated with flowers and a small American flag between them.
Rev. James Cail (7 October 1931-30 November 2017) and Ruby Cail (28 July 1933-3 December 2015)

Rev. James and Ruby Cail led Dixon Branch Missionary Baptist Church for many years. A rosary adorns Mrs. Cail’s memorial.

A small building with a white exterior and a sloped roof, featuring a covered porch and double doors at the front. The sign above the entrance reads 'DIXONBRANCH'. Surrounding the building is a green lawn and some shrubs, with a reserved parking sign on the right.

Saint Joseph Catholic Church, 1911, Screven County

Leave a reply

Saint Joseph in the Bay Branch community is a rare rural Catholic congregation which for many years was the only such church between Savannah and Augusta. In their sesquicentennial history, One Faith…One Family, the Savannah Diocese notes: Bishop Benjamin J. Keiley…dedicated Saint Joseph Catholic Church and Cemetery on May 14, 1911. For about 40 years before the Bay Branch church was built, Catholic Mass was celebrated by priests from Savannah in the homes of Slavic and German Catholic families in rural Screven County…

The simple architecture of the church is typical of rural congregations in Georgia throughout the late-19th and early-20th centuries. It is beautifully maintained.

Johnson Grove Baptist Church, Screven County

Leave a reply

This historic congregation was established in 1909.

At some point, the smaller church was replaced with a larger one. An historic lodge is also located on the property.

Walker Grove Church, Newington

2 Replies

I’ve not been able to locate any history of Walker Grove Church, but it is an important landmark of African-American religious architecture and was obviously integral to its community since. This style was very common among African-American congregations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and I believe the church dates to the early 1900s-1910s. A school was located on the same property.

Board walls were paneled and sheet rock and ceiling tiles added at some point in the congregation’s history. There is no air conditioning and since I didn’t locate a chimney I presume there was a flue for a pot-bellied stove somewhere.

A baptismal is located beside the church.

Bethel Brick United Methodist Church, 1827, Screven County

3 Replies

Brick Church was established on land given by the Reverend Payton Wade and built by enslaved persons from Sam Manor’s nearby Lebanon Forest plantation. Manor’s daughter Sarah was the wife of Reverend Wade, having married him upon the death of her first husband, the Reverend John Crawford. Upon Sarah’s death, Reverend Wade married her younger niece Elizabeth Robert. It’s the oldest extant church building in Screven County. So many early wooden churches have been lost to time, but Brick Church has weathered nearly two centuries. Reverend Wade owned over 500 slaves, and Brick Church counted far more African-American members than whites in the antebellum era. A slave gallery was located around the upper part of the interior but was later removed; the small windows (now boarded shut) along the top of the building are evidence of the gallery. James McBride is thought to have been the brick mason and a Mr. Potter the carpenter. The date the name was changed to Bethel is not confirmed, but thought to be in the 1860s.

A nice old cemetery stands adjacent to the church, the final resting place of numerous Wade descendants and relatives, among them numerous doctors and Confederate veterans.

Behind the church is a beautiful remnant pine forest and Tom Hudson Lake, a reservoir on Rocky Creek named for a former Wade Plantation manager.

Douglas Branch Baptist Church, Screven County

3 Replies

This is an architecturally unusual church for the area, but a new favorite of mine. The bricks are handmade. The congregation dates to June 1850 and enslaved persons often attended with their owners.  Many attended after the Civil War but likely dispersed during Reconstruction. (Source: A Brief History of Douglas Branch Baptist Church, Mrs. H. S. McCall, 1938).

I was rushed when I made the photographs and didn’t have time to explore the adjacent cemetery, but it’s quite large and is the final resting place for many early citizens of Screven County.

Oak Grove Methodist Church, 1919, Screven County

5 Replies

Oak Grove stands at the end of a lonely dirt road in rural Screven County, not far from the Savannah River and the South Carolina state line. It’s as perfect a setting for such a place as one could imagine. Established in the first generation after slavery, the congregation dates to 1876. The first church built here is now lost to history, but was likely of crude construction. The present structure, which is critically endangered and probably beyond saving, was built in 1919. It was in use until the 1970s or early 1980s. The congregation survives at another location today.

Nothing remains inside the church but the ruins of a York Player Piano. I would advise strongly against entering due to the instability of the structure.

Trinity Church, Screven County

3 Replies

This is located just west of Hiltonia. It appears that some of the lumber has been salvaged.

The front gable features shingles at the corners.

The interior, which must have been a lovely space at one time, is merely a shell of its former self today.

Thanks to Rita Howard for the identification.

 

Wesleyanna Memorial Methodist Church, 1870, Screven County

15 Replies

This quaint historic church is a testament to a congregation’s desire to preserve a place of worship, long after its last regular services were held. Most of the people in this community weren’t even born when the church was still active but according to Cheryl Bazemore, whose grandparents were among the builders of the church, a homecoming is held by descendants of the congregation each year. This explains the ceiling fans.

It’s a simple, utilitarian design, with board-and batten exterior walls, and very plain pews and pulpit, yet it really exemplifies the beauty of the country church.

A historic marker placed on the grounds in 1963 states: Organized 1868 under bush arbor on Stephen D. Lewis farm by Elder Theo. A. Pharr, John Hardy Bolton, Julia Wells Bolton, Stephen D. Lewis, Martha Howard Lewis, Paul Jenkins, Temperance Jenkins, Fulton L. Oglesby, Mary Bolton Oglesby and others on land given by Alexander James Wells and Isaac Thomas Bazemore. Original Trustees: John W. Boston, James Allen Bazemore, Green Berry Waters, Alexander James Wells and Abisha Humphrey Bazemore. Among early preachers: John Jenkins, W.D. Smith, Abisha Humphrey Bazemore, A.F. Ellington, Emory F. Dean, Jacob Perry Bazemore, David Matthews Bazemore, A.M. Johnson and John W. Roach.

June, 1957: church and cemetery set aside as perpetual memorial to founders by deed from Methodist Conference to Trustees, all of whom are descendants: Dora Bazemore Brooker, E. Lampkin Bazemore, I. Thomas Sanders, James Eugene Bazemore, Charles Thurman Hopkins, Sr., Lilla Sanders Smith, John W. Gross, Palmer A. Bazemore and Bertha Hoffman.

A sign over the entrance to the church yard dates the building to 1870.

 

First Baptist Church, 1918, Sylvania

4 Replies

The congregation dates to 1847. The present structure, dating to 1918, was renovated in 1972 by Augusta civil engineer Harry Peihl Vankerhoff.  It’s one of the most noticeable landmarks in Sylvania.